ORANGE COUNTY, N.C. (AP) — A woman, charged with helping a prisoner evade police in North Carolina after he escaped from a transport van, appeared in court on Monday.
Jacobia Crisp was charged with aiding and abetting a fugitive and harboring an escapee for her alleged role in helping Ramone Alston elude law enforcement last week, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office. The Burlington resident now faces more than five years in state prison if convicted of both felony charges, according to local media outlets.
Alston was the center of a highly publicized manhunt after he freed himself from his leg restraints and escaped out of a transport van in Hillsborough on Tuesday. The 30-year-old was at UNC Gastrointestinal Medicine for a medical appointment when he fled, according to the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction.
Currently serving a life sentence at Bertie Correctional Institution in Windsor, North Carolina, Alston was previously convicted in the killing of 1-year-old Maleah Williams. Maleah was shot on Christmas Day in 2015 from a passing car while she was playing outside her family's apartment in Chapel Hill, and she later died three days later, authorities said.
After three days of extensive searching by various agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Marshals Service, Alston was captured at a hotel in Kannapolis on Friday, according to the sheriff's office. He was transferred to the state's most secure maximum control unit in Granville County and could face additional charges, officials said.
Crisp was later arrested in Alamance County on Friday, authorities said. The 32-year-old posted her $30,000 bond later that day, according to court records.
As for her relationship with Alston, Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood said during a Friday news conference that the two began communicating mostly via phone several months ago. She was initially described as Alston's acquaintance.
Crisp's next hearing is scheduled for Sept. 13.